Access to Salon... Laser hair removal Q:

Hey all,

One of my clients owns a building in Manhattan, the top 2 floor are (were) a spa/salon (the one seen on Housewives of NYC TV show) that just went bankrupt. -- they literally showed up one day at about 2:00pm and fired everyone, giving them 5 minutes to clear out their personal possessions - which were inventoried at the door...

Anyhow, as someone is closing a deal to rent those 2 floor, they are going to clear out a bunch of stuff, and I am going to be called in to inventory, disassemble, and asses for sale; all thier existing technology items left behind.

Computers, servers, hubs/switches, and more...

Onto the Q:

What freq's/power are laser hair removal devices?
Is it worthwhile for me to secure one (or more) of those for extraction of the diode/power supply/etc?

I know they probably vary by manufacturer and model, but I am sure there is some commonality too...

Also, I will post a link here to the listing once it's done, and I will be sure to apply a nice discount to any of the LPF members - as a thanks for the knowledge you all share!


So what freq's? how much power? Worth the effort?

A pair of pics and models / brands can help a lot in searching informations ..... it's almost impossible to say you any data, without know what machines are, they vary too much.

They can be ND:YAG, or just 800nm diodes (always pulsed), and change a lot from brand to brand, just for give you an example, some of these machines uses ruby lasers, some alexandrite lasers, the most part 800nm pulsed diodes, and some high power ones ND:YAG units ..... basically, anything from 700 (or few less) to 1000 (or few more) nanometers is used for hair removal, cause it's the band more adsorbed from melanin, and at the same time, less adsorbed from water and oxyhemoglobin.

I am not an expert on these machines, but from the standpoint of a reseller, I would think that the machines could be worth several thousand dollars depending on the machine, making it uneconomical to destroy an expensive working machine for just the laser/power. It would be like ripping up a working Wii for the laser.

Just my thoughts, but keep in mind that I could be wrong.

Ben

Well, usually all those machines are extremely overpriced, on the market, just cause they write on them "professional" , and this automatically add one or two "zeroes" after the price, also if you don't write them ..... so, you can end with a "professional something" containing a 100$ laser sold easily for 1000 or 2000 $, just for the word "professional" ..... anyway .....

Yes, if the machines are working and reasonably news, it does not worth the fact to dismantle them just for a laser ..... if, for the counterpart, they are very old, or not correctly working, or from a model that was stopped to produce years ago, it can be very expensive to repair / refurbish them, especially considering that when lasers are involved, some manufacturers ask you more for refurbishment than for a new part (i remember some times ago, i had found an old 15W CO2 tube that was sold around 50$, but need to be refilled ..... cause in those years that particular tube was quoted 500$, on the market for a new one, i asked the factory for a refill price, and they said me 750$ for refill and realign it ) ..... or if it was stopped to be produced from years, and spare parts are not availables ..... in these cases, it may worth to dismantle them for the pieces, instead.

HIMNL9, you are a walking encyclopedy!

Yes, I agree to all of it - the laser will be anything in the infrared area, and used pulsed. Since the pulse durations can go up quite long, the laserheads will often be constant-wave lasers which are switched on for "short duration pulses". 200ms is not a short pulse in laser terms. My readings suggest something in the 50 to 100W cw range. Or, if its older, maybe flashlight-pumped "real" pulsed lasers.

I agree too on the "professional" and "working condition" part. As much as I would love to see those thingies disambled, for the laser (and optics), they will probably be much more worth as whole, functioning devices!

And, yes, show us pics!

Manuel

i will surely post pics.
their server room/workshop has some hair removal stuff that seems to be stored, and it looks older than the unis they have working in the treatment rooms.

I'll post a link to everything with pics soon.